Monty Python's Flying Circus - "Working Class Playwright"

From Episode 2, "Sex and Violence." Starring Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and Terry Jones.

[@stalhein62]

“I’ve had more gala luncheons than you’ve had hot dinners” is a fantastically funny line

[@MrIanSellers]

Perfect

[@thephilster6860]

"She's been fucked more times than she's had hot dinners."--Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, Eric Partridge

[@ThomasAllan-up4td]

Bet you have. In those bitterly very cold days.. when I was freezing cold around loch Lomond. Carrying coal to the local hotels, and up the Vale...I could have been doing with a hot dinner. But as you say, you've probably had more hot dinners than a coal howkiing tramp like me. Positively and forth street. Bob Dylan.

[@user-xv1gn7yk3t]

Tungsten carbide bit!!, Ooh with your fancy mining friends.

[@user-xv1gn7yk3t]

Writers cramp, Thou don't know you're born.

[@Jack908r]

"You know what he's like after a few novels." LMAO

[@mathieugariepy2948]

My influencer dad never forgave me when I decided to work at the microprocessor plant.

[@u.v.s.5583]

GET OUT YOU LABORER!

[@pauljordan4452]

Are you being sarcastic?

[@jlc-sh9rz]

@@pauljordan4452 You and yer bluddy sarcasm! It'll be the old disjunctive syllogism next, I suppose....yer bluddy labourer!

[@Luncheon23]

This may actually happen in 20 years' time.

[@lucywillis4174]

What's a bleeding micro processor, when it's at 'ome??

[@samuelphillips6984]

"Hampstead wasn't good enough for you, you had to go poncing off to Barnsley."

[@yoco93cro]

Can you please explain this line to a non-british person?

[@djjuan77]

@@yoco93croThe Hamptons weren’t good enough for you, you had to go poncing off to Cleveland.

[@yoco93cro]

@@djjuan77 would that mean going from bad to worse?

[@djjuan77]

@@yoco93cro going from a rich neighborhood to a working class city

[@yoco93cro]

@@djjuan77 thank you!

[@Tarkus_H]

One of my personal favorite throwaway jokes. "A man with nine legs." "HE RAN AWAY!"

[@JohnSmith-op1tc]

To come along with a comedic "Triple" in the segue after all of the deep shots delivered in "Working Class Playwright," what a team!

[@Rubyofthedead]

That's not a throwaway joke. It's a runaway.

[@nbklein]

there's more to life than culture. there's dirt and smoke

[@u.v.s.5583]

Get out. You laborer.

[@chechoaus]

"And good honest sweat!"

[@PowuhToSeven]

You and your fancy coal mining friends

[@dx1450]

"Ahhh!" "Oh no! It's his writer's cramp!"

[@jackiescanlon]

'You had to go poncin' off to Barnsley...' My favourite line from this wonderful sketch.

[@anthonyscott4270]

It is every young man's ambition to go poncing off to Barnsley.......failing that there is always Pontefract.

[@ghengiscant538]

NO Hampstead wasn`t good enough for you was it . Close second

[@eddiewillers1]

He could have ponced off to Preston.

[@jamesm.3967]

Punting off..

[@oolala53]

I have no idea where Barnsley is but I can just imagine...

[@rdhunkins]

“You come home every night reeling of Chateau Le Tour!”… I love how they swapped the stereotypes in this sketch!

[@rmcnabb]

This may be the best thing they ever wrote for Flying Circus. It's perfect on every level. For one thing, Terry Jones' tired housewife is amazing - the way she looks at him for permission to answer the door is something that he's seen in real life obviously. Beyond funny, beyond poignant. Perfect.

[@anonUK]

It's a straight inversion of the D.H.Lawrence to kitchen sink tradition.

[@cliffclavin3865]

That growl from chapman after idle says "coal mining is a wonderful thing" is brilliant!!😂😂😂

[@u.v.s.5583]

gtout. get out. Get out! GET OUT YOU LABORER!

[@tjimicole2677]

2:15 "THERE'S NAUGHT WRONG WITH GALA LUNCHEONS, LAD!!!" My pick for the funniest line delivery of all time. Just brilliant!

[@lindseystephen4810]

😂

[@thiagodeandrade7081]

Well, there isn't.

[@eddiewillers1]

It's "nowt", my dude.

[@jonathanowen4075]

"I've 'ad more gala luncheons than you've 'ad hot dinners!" is what does it for me.

[@enkisdaughter4795]

@@eddiewillers1Something my late father used to say regularly; he was a Lancashire miner. Miss you Dad.

[@lfwalrus]

I reckon this is some of the most sophisticated comedy ever made

[@bellerophonchallen8861]

"What's wrong with him?" "It's his writers cramp...."

[@aerialkate]

John Cleese said that Graham Chapman was the best actor in 'Monty Python' and I agree with him. Graham's accent, timing and the way he delivers his lines in this sketch is perfection. Shame he had such personal demons.

[@yoavcohen2218]

aerialkate he got over them

[@magnus75damkier]

I suppose that's why he had the lead roles in both "Brian" and "Holy Grail".

[@ackerjawaka4742]

Plus he managed to do all that while being pissed oit of his gord 😂 it must be like when people say they can drive better when they are pissed, he must be able to act better 😂♠️

[@marguskiis7711]

massively overacting tho

[@jeremypnet]

@@ackerjawaka4742 He was sober by the time he got to Life of Brian

[@modehead101]

Back in 1978/79, one of the best teachers in my primary school would routinely shout 'Tungsten carbide drills?!'. I had absolutely no idea what he was going on about at the time but it sounded funny. He was a genius teacher who also recommended we all watch 'Blake's 7' - we did and we loved it though my appreciation of Monty Python came much, much later. What a fantastic and timeless sketch this is.

[@TomFynn]

We had MP on German late night TV in English (and subtitles for the permanently bewildered). None of my teachers did recommend Blake's 7 to me, unfortunately, which came much later in life. Oh and I can heartily recommend Sapphire and Steele.

[@TheAmazingAdventuresOfMiles]

I use tungsten carbide drills underground all the time. Wonderful things.

[@jimmorrison5493]

@@TheAmazingAdventuresOfMilesooh hark at you with your tungsten carbide drill, a Major Retrospective at Tate not good enough for you?

[@patkelly8309]

My Birthdy

[@uncled39]

​@@TomFynnsteel

[@thisweatherisbullshit]

1st time ive seen this sketch. Graham chapman was a comedic genius.

[@RUDDYHELL2014]

0:13 Exuberance 0:17 Contempt 0:57 Bigotry 1:12 Passion 1:48 Anger 1:55 Conflict 2:02 Truth 2:09 Pity 2:15 Denial 2:24 Revelation 2:36 Sadness Monty Python were masters of Satire comedy!

[@scottmclennan6114]

“You know what he’s like after a few novels”. Ha ha.

[@jeffallen55]

I've been watching MP for over 25 years now. As I get older, this sketch gets funnier and funnier. It's one of the most clever pieces they ever wrote.

[@chasbodaniels1744]

It’s indeed brilliant. The premises are a bit inconsistent, but the writing and acting carry the load!

[@Jmf1190]

It’s phenomenal

[@Claude_van]

Because workers are conservative and writers are leftists. Always have been.

[@garrick3727]

Growing up in a coal mining village we got quite a lot of mileage out of "Tungsten carbide drill? What the bloody hell is a tungsten carbine drill?" whenever we heard people talking about the mine. Not so many from my generation worked down the pit because Thatcher closed most of them down.

[@solelsoleil3869]

Serious part of later 20th century history. Popular movies only skim the surface of the miners' plight. It was the start of the end of the UK's unions' power.

[@quickattackfilms7923]

Oh fancy pants over here thinks he’s special because he grew up in a mining town.

[@peterfireflylund]

Did she now? Or were they losing money? And weren’t most of them closed before she become PM?

[@rmcnabb]

Oh you grew up in a mining town? We used to DREAM of living in a town! We had to live at the bottom of a dry well...and we were LUCKY!

[@gennettor8915]

"Toongsten Carbide Drills????"

[@jenni1987walsh]

I work in a tool store and when ever a customer asks for this I can’t hold my laughter in 😂

[@TheJoker137]

As a theatre professional this is my favorite Python sketch.

[@sherbournesubwaymess]

...but did you finally realize there's more to life than culture? There's dirt, and smoke, and good honest sweat!

[@TheJoker137]

@@sherbournesubwaymess The funny thing is that I've found all those things in the theatre world too!

[@Spurdospaerde692]

This is not a theatre professional, this is a Monty Python sketch. Good that it's your favourite one, though.

[@TheJoker137]

@@Spurdospaerde692 No, this is Patrick.

[@JamaicanCastle]

@@TheJoker137 Sir, this is a Wendy's.

[@stockholm1752]

“You know what he’s like after a few novels.” 🤣

[@stephenhurstPLEB]

He's had a hard day Dear...his new play opens at National Theatre tomorrow...BRILLIANT!

[@DMBall]

This is the sort of reversal comedy Oscar Wilde made a specialty.

[@MrGranfield]

This is my favourite MP sketch, funny,clever and witty. "Hampstead wasn't good enough for you was it? You had to go poncing of to Barnsley!"

[@lindseystephen4810]

😂😂😂

[@paulthompson8996]

The first time I saw this it took a while to sink in that the standard roles - working class father, son trying to make it good in that there London - were reversed. "Hampstead wasn't good enough for you; you had to go poncin' off to Barnsley!" Brilliant.

[@corinnabuck-lachenmann54]

Hi, your comment is precious and helpful. Now I can at least start digging through this scetch. Thanks and greetings from the Black Forest, Germany

[@betweenthegrooves1203]

And it's great hearing the audience do the same. They're a bit hesitant at first, but when then finally clock what's being subverted here, they get it.

[@Njal55]

"You had to go poncing off to Barnsley" :)

[@davidaraujo927]

Coal mining is a wonderful thing, father!

[@grumpywine]

There's nowt wrong wi' gala luncheons. You were the best Graham. We miss you...

[@ChrJahnsen]

This is Monty Python at their very finest. It's absolutely brilliant how they mix class struggle and total wackiness together. I got tears in my eyes from laughing. "'Ampstead wasn't good enough for you, was it?!?! Ye had to go poncin' off to Barnsley!!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@gingerfellah5665]

A line I’ve been quoting ever since

[@u.v.s.5583]

You and your coal mining friends!

[@wednesdaytheblackcat7385]

As a young American, watching Monty Python on PBS, I had no idea of these cities and their status in England’s culture (other than London). But, I had a sneaking suspicion due to the nature of Monty Python. This and the Fish Slapping Dance are my absolute favorite sketches. Long live silly!!!

[@rmcnabb]

@@wednesdaytheblackcat7385 Correct - as another American I felt the same way. "Well Hampstead must be a lot more expensive than Barnsley or they wouldn't have flipped them like that." I learned a lot about England from Python. (I also learned that the palindrome of Bolton is Notlob.)

[@ChrJahnsen]

​@@rmcnabb I thought we were in Ipswich?

[@markschildberg1667]

Classic reversal of a premise with very funny results. Great satire of dramatic cliches.

[@Femsa2012]

There's more to life than culture! There's dirt and smoke and good honest sweat!

[@samguberman2288]

Such genius writing, another classic Python sketch.

[@BigAndTall666]

Tungsten carbide, LUXURY! 😮😂😂😂

[@ysgol3]

Brilliantly conceived and written. And Graham is at his brilliant, unbeatable best.

[@1ouncebird]

It's spellled Graham Chapman but it's pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove.

[@ysgol3]

@@1ouncebirdYou're a very silly man and I'm not going to interview you.

[@1ouncebird]

@@ysgol3 Ahh!!! Antisemitism!

[@Nooziterp1]

@@1ouncebird Raymond Luxury Yacht pronounced Throatwobbler Mangrove. Brilliant sketch.

[@ysgol3]

@@1ouncebird Not at all!

[@luisreyes1963]

A bizarre reversal of roles in which the son of a haughty playwright became a humble coal miner.

[@MrIanSellers]

Some of the best acting I have ever seen

[@TTony-tu6dm]

The comic genius behind this sketch is beyond belief

[@kevinbergin9971]

When these episodes started to appear on PBS, in the 1970s, my dad watched this sketch and couldn't stop laughing. Funny Stuff!

[@cherylz1553]

This is my favorite MP sketch of all time. And Terry Jones makes the perfect frumpy housewife. ;)

[@djquinn4825]

Well, he is almost always the only one they use for that type of character, so the Pythons seemed to recognize that as well. I think it is both the voice he uses and his height and build that make him perfect for it.

[@vordman]

I've rarely seen a woman so torn. I hope she found some balance later.

[@wednesdaytheblackcat7385]

@@vordman 😂😂😂

[@robertreape]

Poncin of to Barnsley,the genius of the pythons

[@lynnvanna8525]

There's naught wrong with gala luncheons, lad!

[@mkvenner2]

This is one of Monty python’s best written skits.

[@tothelighthouse9843]

We love them all, they're all very talented...but there's something special about Graham. Such glorious conviction, such a perfect balance of serious & unserious.

[@lillydee5978]

These guys were way before my time, but I love them so much! I used to stay up at night and watch them on a comedy channel that showed reruns. They are simply brilliant and have brought me so much joy to me. This sketch is one of my favorites.

[@ROGER2095]

The old ladies applauding have been cracking me up for 50 years!

[@Prinzenelleke]

Me too, timeline included

[@u.v.s.5583]

The horse is great!

[@joshualockhart3749]

I actually love Terry Jones in this sketch, he plays that be*drag*gled old lady so well

[@rmcnabb]

Masterful performance. He's absolutely acting the part with full intention - no comedy meant - which is why is carries so perfectly.

[@jackson76724]

There's always a nugget of comedy gold from Python I haven't seen for ages😂

[@BCD1964]

The Pythons were pure genius…the most brilliant comedy in history

[@josephinebennington7247]

Well, they were all highly intelligent, well brought up, nicely spoken in many dialects and accents, witty, gracious, original, funny people who were given and got the best that a British top university could give them…and eventually us……what do you expect? The Spanish Inquisition?

[@fredbloggs8072]

Agreed, and the most influential. They changed comedy forever.

[@josephinebennington7247]

@@fredbloggs8072 No, Spike Milligan changed comedy for everybody. Python acknowledge this.

[@jacksimpsonguitar253]

You know what he's like after a few novels!

[@jmccallion2394]

Oh, Ken, be careful; you know what he is like after a few novels! Only came across this last week, and it is up there with: "Trouble at Mill", another Chapman gem!

[@reltiet]

Chapmans greatest performance!

[@norahdenovan8658]

Graham Chapman was an absolute gem, just brilliant, such talent ❤️🙏

[@marguskiis7711]

He could act only one way and making the same faces all the time.

[@1ouncebird]

@@marguskiis7711 Absolutely incorrect.

[@hilaryepstein6013]

@@marguskiis7711 so that's why the Pythons said he was the best actor of them all. And that's why he was their leading man - twice.

[@roberthaworth8991]

“Gem” - such a tinny word!

[@footofjuniper8212]

3 people went poncing off to Barnsley.

[@Vfulncchl]

+Tenderfoot Prepper Count me in, babyyyyyyyyyyy

[@suchafinedancer]

Wonderful Python sketch, always in my top ten.

[@je8761]

Graham Chapman, Terry Jones and Eric Idle do brilliant acting here.

[@sapho71]

'You know what he's like after a few novels'.

[@bluesque9687]

Terry Jones is the resident mom of monty python!

[@nicholashylton6857]

I forgot how freaking funny this sketch was! 🤣🤣🤣

[@RhythmGrizz]

"There's more to life than culrure. There's dirt and smoke..."

[@mikeavalon3086]

Chapman magnificent when sober. Later series saw him pissed & forgetting lines. He drank his way through Grail but had less nerves on the film set than in front of studio audiences. By the time of filming Brian he was teetotal & using his medical training to mend any poorly cast & crew in Tunisia. All six Pythons contributed different elements to the group. I feel Graham was the wilder / off-kilter of them. He provided a crazier spark - & was always the one I was drawn to.

[@bluejacketau5777]

'She turned me into a newt... I got better.' I know it's Cleese but its a great line.

[@cliffclavin3865]

​@@bluejacketau5777BURN HER!!!!!!🤣🤣🤣

[@Sheppo42]

Well said. Eric Idle was the one that I was always drawn to.

[@mercut1o]

Sadly, having beaten the the booze, it was his pipe smoking that did for him in the end via Tonsil Cancer.

[@johnheart6890]

One of the many brilliantly funny sketches that I still remember the exact lines: Monty Python- still relevant to our time now.

[@stefenney3126]

The sketch is almost identical to the first episode of Coronation Street. Ken Barlow has returned home from College and his dad is sitting at the table, in shirt sleeves. Mum is fussing Ken, but there's an altercation over a HP sauce bottle being on the table - obviously where the idea for the skit came from.

[@premanadi]

Just watched it. I wouldn't quite say "almost identical," but there is a similarity. But the Python sketch is clearly based on the father and son in DH Lawrence's Sons And Lovers. Or maybe the Coronation Street episode is as well!

[@jonathanowen4075]

@@premanadi Lawrence is definitely the immediate point of reference - the published script mentions the sitting room as being 'straight out of D.H. Lawrence' - but there's also the broader tradition of British kitchen-sink realism and of educated sons returning home to working-class parents, which pops up in roughly contemporaneous plays by Dennis Potter, David Mercer, David Storey et al. Lawrence may well have been the root of all that though.

[@thefunpolice]

Chapman's comedic genius laid bare and plain for all to see.

[@chandlerbryan1793]

This is probably my favorite Python sketch. And that's saying something!

[@Nooziterp1]

Written by Eric Idle I believe.

[@andrewlockett4569]

I dunno. Gas cooker sketch, the deadly fruit military drill and the problem of chartered accountancy are also legendary.

[@paulannable3734]

You need to listen to the Lifeboat Sketch. ‘Still no sign of land. How long is it?’

[@chandlerbryan3448]

Oh I know and love them all.

[@Nooziterp1]

Hungarian Phrasebook. 'My hoverdraft is full of eels.' 'My nipples explode with delight.'

[@andrewthomson870]

So many brilliant lines in this sketch. 🤣🤣🤣

[@mikebott6940]

This was inspired by the the Angry Young Men period in the early 60s.

[@Jabberstax]

The BBC will never be able to make anything half as good as this again.

[@theowarner]

2:41 “There’s more to life than culture!”

[@colinwilliams553]

Of all the MONTY PYTHON sketches,THIS has got to be the one that really makes me laugh the most Graham Chapman has got to be the most underrated "dramatic" actor if their ever is one.R.I.P Graham.

[@brucemcbain3150]

Underrated by whom, when? Please point to one instance in the whole world where Graham Chapman is underrated.

[@colinwilliams553]

@brucemcbain3150 when I said underrated,I really meant that he really isn't a dramatic actor note that the word dramatic is in quotation marks meaning that he really wasn't a dramatic actor.If you didn't known that,I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!!!

[@DRSTRANGELOVEIN]

Ever occur to you that these guys were putting up the kind of abrupt humor of early KZbin creators decades before the internet existed? And they were a hit

[@discodave6153]

My fav sketch of theirs, so beautifully written and performed

[@uncled39]

Its surprisingly to me how many people have to have this skit explained to them. Doesn't that take the impact out of it?

[@barrycuda3769]

Reminds me of a friend of mine 'he doesnt seem to understand most comedy 'sarcasm is lost on him ' I mentioned Monty Python to him once , and he said " I never really liked him" 😂

[@dan.3450]

@@barrycuda3769 That's tragic.

[@vangroover1903]

@@barrycuda3769 As a solo act I always thought he was overrated.

[@barrycuda3769]

@@vangroover1903 Montgomery Python ? yes. Python is an unusual surname isn't it ?

[@vangroover1903]

@@barrycuda3769 Yes, yes, good old MontyP. They say he emigrated to Australia and joined a circus

[@dannycheesums]

Terry Jones is struggling not to laugh in this sketch haha!

[@timoverington5177]

What a brilliant reverse skit.many years old now but the humour is not threadbare and terry jones always played a brilliant housewife R I P….

[@stephenhaywood5672]

Just about perfect

[@oraz.]

That's a full working day, lad!

[@trudies4791]

That’s a full working day lad and don’t you forget it!

[@keithnaylor1981]

One of their cleverest twists on life!

[@u.v.s.5583]

Nothing twists quite the way a tungsten carbide drill does!

[@MissSallyB1]

the singluar "HA!" after 'a man with nine legs' *chef's kiss*

[@ss51-857]

I just watched vintage coronation st. And this pops up. They were brilliant.

[@MrGranfield]

Graham Chapman was far and away the best actor of the ensemble, here he is at his peerless best.

[@davissae]

What a great concept for a sketch 🤣

[@Mark-jk1jv]

That's a full working day lad and Don't You Forget It! Love it.

[@bob-sb2zu]

Python at its best ! Marvellous 😄😄

[@stevepolhill6816]

Absolutely brilliant

[@Dave-lr2wo]

That's a heckuva set.,

[@pyro609]

The greatest Python sketch ever IMO, it's absolute genius

[@Nooziterp1]

Written by Eric Idle I believe.

[@premanadi]

@@Nooziterp1 Really? It seems so Cleese-Chapman, and has none of Idle's typical word play. But I'll take your word for it.

[@Nooziterp1]

@@premanadi Idle, being ex-Cambridge like Cleese and Chapman, also tended to write sketches based on wordplay. Whereas the ex-Oxford Pythons, Palin and Jones, tended to go for sketches based more on visual comedy and surrealism.

[@andrewgrandfield7214]

The National Union of Mineworkers has its HQ in Barnsley.

[@rmcnabb]

Thanks - didn't know that.

[@ymirfrostgiant]

Can we take a moment to appreciate that MP threw away a good chunk of this show's budget on a location, film, a costume, a horse, and and animal wranglers just for two throwaway shots of John Cleese on a horse?

[@JamaicanCastle]

Well, it's the BBC, so they probably just said "okay, which of the 18 historical programs they're shooting this year can spare a horse for 10 minutes?"

[@rdhunkins]

Well, they did more than just that throwaway clip of John Cleese Resedas as a Scotsman on a horse. There was a whole ‘Scotsman on a horse’ sketch.

[@jeffs7915]

That's a full working day , Lad .

[@fredrikcarlstedt393]

Moral of all this : Dont ever poncing off to Barnsley.

[@pamphilia93]

Best Monty Python sketch ever!

[@SodomaMuikku]

So brilliant acting. One of my favourite Python's.

[@metallord6960]

Apparently Monty Python predicted social media influencers.

[@robertjohnston-mp5im]

My dad was so upset that I had gone off to become a factory worker rather than make NPC videos on Tiktok. He always said "ice cream so good yum yum!" But I knew I had a special something, I had a work ethic! I'm so sorry dad.

[@davidbull7210]

One of their best ones.

[@brianjanderson6361]

Outstanding writing and acting. Most people know Monty Python by their movies, but their skits were hilarious and so creative.

[@StamfordBridge]

There’s nowt wrong wi’ gala luncheons, lad!!